We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.Find out moreJump to
Content

Gilbert Highet and Antony Spawforth

Anyte of *Tegea(fl. early 3rd cent. bc), an Arcadian poetess, much admired in her time and thereafter. About eighteen of her Doric epigrams, mostly funerary, are in the Greek Anthology, and one is ...
More

Anyte of *Tegea(fl. early 3rd cent. bc), an Arcadian poetess, much admired in her time and thereafter. About eighteen of her Doric epigrams, mostly funerary, are in the Greek Anthology, and one is cited by Pollux 5. 48. Her lyrics are lost, but she translated some of *Sappho's spirit into her sensitive elegiac quatrains.Less

Ken Dowden

Boeo, short form of a woman's name (based on ‘Boeotian’ ?).(1) Legendary Delphian (see delphi) author of a *hymn mentioning *Hyperboreans and the prophet *Olen (Pausanias 10. 5. 7–8).(2) Either Boeo ...
More

Boeo, short form of a woman's name (based on ‘Boeotian’ ?).(1) Legendary Delphian (see delphi) author of a *hymn mentioning *Hyperboreans and the prophet *Olen (Pausanias 10. 5. 7–8).(2) Either Boeo (fem.) or Boeos (masc.), author of the Hellenistic Ornithogonia (‘Origins of Birds’, cf. ‘Theogony’) used by *Ovid in his Metamorphoses.Less

Eveline Krummen and Donald Russell

A song (or speech) given ‘at the bridal chamber (θάλαμος)’ ([Dion. Hal.] Rhet. 4. 1); a regular feature of marriages (see marriage ceremonies). Strictly speaking, it is distinct from the general ...
More

A song (or speech) given ‘at the bridal chamber (θάλαμος)’ ([Dion. Hal.] Rhet. 4. 1); a regular feature of marriages (see marriage ceremonies). Strictly speaking, it is distinct from the general ‘wedding song’ (γαμήλιος), cf. Eust. 1541. 49, and from the ‘*Hymenaeus’, the processional song which accompanied the newly-married couple to their house (Hom. Il. 18. 491–6; ps.-Hes. Sc. 272–85; Eur. Tro. 308–41; Ar. Peace 1316–57; Ap. Rhod. 4. 1160). In literature, however, the title ‘epithalamium’ predominates. *Menander (4) Rhetor (399–405 Spengel) actually uses the term as a synonym for ‘wedding speech’ (γαμήλιος), preferring the more explicit ‘bedding-down speech’ (κατευναστικός) for the ceremony at the bedroom door.The tradition is of course old. *Sappho's wedding songs were famous. Comedy (*Aristophanes (1)'s Peace, Birds) and tragedy (Eur. Troades, Iphigenia at Aulis, Phaethon) provide examples.Less

Kelly L. Wrenhaven

In ancient Greece and Rome, masturbation was viewed with good-humored disdain. Although it was not apparently subject to the same kinds of scathing attacks that Greek comedy makes on male same-sex ...
More

In ancient Greece and Rome, masturbation was viewed with good-humored disdain. Although it was not apparently subject to the same kinds of scathing attacks that Greek comedy makes on male same-sex activity, it was certainly connected with a lack of sophistication. In line with sexual subjects in general, references are found primarily in Greek comedy and sympotic art of the Archaic and Classical periods, where it is typically associated with barbarians, slaves, and satyrs, all of whom fall into the category of the “Other,” or the anti-ideal. All were deemed lacking in sophrosyne (“moderation”) and enkratia (“self-control”) and were associated with uncivilized behavior. The Greeks had a varied terminology for masturbation. The most commonly found verb is dephesthai (“to soften”), but several other words and euphemisms were used (e.g. cheirourgon, “self-stimulation”).1The comedies of Aristophanes (1) provide the majority of references to masturbation and largely associate it with slaves. The lengthiest reference is a joke that occurs near the beginning of Knights, when Slave B tells Slave A to masturbate in order to give himself courage.Less

Richard Hunter

Female poet of late 4th–early 3rd cent. bce. Only scanty remains survive: ten verses from the hexameter Mnemosyne, two epigrams, a summary of a story of cruelty and mad passion from her Ἀραί ...
More

Female poet of late 4th–early 3rd cent. bce. Only scanty remains survive: ten verses from the hexameter Mnemosyne, two epigrams, a summary of a story of cruelty and mad passion from her Ἀραί (‘Curses’), and the mention of a Hymn to Poseidon. Her son, Homeros, was one of the tragic *Pleiad in *Alexandria (1).Less

Nossis (fl. c. 300 bce), Greek poetess from Epizephyrian Locri (see locri epizephyrii), author of a dozen epigrams from *Meleager(2)'s Garland in the Greek *anthology, mostly inscriptions for votive offerings and works of art. She compares herself to Sappho (Anth. Pal. 7. 718), and 5. 170 implies that she also wrote love poetry.

Phallus, an image of the penis, often as erect, to be found in various contexts, in particular (a) in certain rituals associated with fertility, notably Dionysiac *processions (see dionysus): see ...
More

Phallus, an image of the penis, often as erect, to be found in various contexts, in particular (a) in certain rituals associated with fertility, notably Dionysiac *processions (see dionysus): see e.g. Ar. Ach.243 on the Attic rural Dionysia (see attic cults and myths), *Semos in Ath. 622b-c on groups of ‘ithyphallics’ and ‘phallus-bearers’, *Varro in Aug. Civ. 7. 21 ‘for the success of seeds’ at the Liberalia (see liber pater);(b) as a sacred object revealed in the Dionysiac *mysteries, as in the Villa of the Mysteries fresco at *Pompeii; *Iamblichus (2) (Myst. 1. 11) mentions it as a symbol of secret doctrine;(c) in the costume of comedy (see comedy (greek), old), *satyric drama, and various low theatrical genres; *Aristotle (Poet. 1449a11) says that comedy originated in phallic songs;(d) on permanent display, often as part of a statue such as those of *Priapus or the *herms identified with *Hermes;(e) as apotropaic: e.Less